Pearl Harbor Day: Seventy Years of Remembering

December seventh... 1941... the day of infamy. Now, seventy years later, let us honor those who lived through it by allowing them to speak for themselves. Here are some original clips:

The President's Address:



An interrupted radio program relating the news. Incidentally, the piece being played before the interruption is my favorite piece ever written for the piano, Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne in E Minor, Op72, No1:



A toll on civilians:



The US Navy's Account. To my Japanese and Japanese-American readers, I apologize for the derogatory terms. I am powerless to change history:



Japanese photography. As the Americans were busy saving lives, American photography of the event is rare, and this Japanese film presents a fuller picture (click the link here):

The explosion of the USS Arizona. The silent film speaks louder to me than anything else here, since one is left to imagine the dreadful noise (click the link here):

And today:




Some photos of American patriotism and sacrifice: